Tonight our 1st and 2nd grade basketball team had their third practice. I would love to tell you that our first game on Saturday was successful but THEY DON'T KEEP SCORE.
That's my first "sign of the times thought".
In an age of being Politically Correct it seems that keeping score is bad for the kids self esteem. I think its a load of garbage. Do you know what makes a kid smile the most in practice? Putting the ball through the net. The kids work hard on passing, dribbling and playing defense but at the end of the day I see my kids smile the biggest when they make a shot. At the end of the game the other day one of my kids said "Coach did we win?" I said "Sure, you can say that." I couldn't say "yes" or "no" because the league doesn't even keep score.
So a sign of the times... don't keep score b/c you might hurt feelings. The reality is that kids like boundaries. They like being shown how to properly shoot a basketball. They like when we breakdown for defense. They like parameters. By not keeping score we are not helping the kids with their self esteem, we are showing them that it doesn't matter if you put the ball through the net or not... as long as you get a snack when its over.
My second "sign of the times" comes from the same sort of arena. Today during practice I had 3 of the 6 kids present tell me "Coach, I'm tired." This was only 15 minutes into practice AND I DON'T RUN THEM :)
I joked about this with one of the parents at the end of the practice and she said "Yes, all they do is sit in front of the T.V. and play video games.
Two thoughts... That's wrong. We shouldn't let kids waste away in front of games. The second thought is kind of ironic... you know what happens in every video game? They keep score. Kids at 7 years old know if they won or lost. You know what? Video games sales continue to soar. Having boundaries isn't the problem... Not having them is.
2 comments:
Wow that is so true my friend. Good word!
Both my kids have played in leagues that did not keep score. The interesting thing is that the kids kept meticulous track of their personal goals and the team score.
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